Counting cost of crime

Rural crime fell by 6% in Scotland last year but still cost the community £1.7 million.

The annual Rural Crime Report from the industry’s leading insurer, NFU Mutual, shows that high-tech security measures have been adopted by farmers and police to help tackle increasingly sophisticated thieves.

In particular, specialist training by Police Scotland helped reduce quad bike (ATV) theft by 37% over the year.

The cost of rural crime to the UK economy has now reached £42.5m a year.

NFU Mutual rural affairs specialist Tim Price said garden equipment and 4x4s were the biggest growing trend in rural thefts. Cyber crime is also an increasing concern.

“Tactics now include cloning tractor identities, advertising non-existent machinery in agricultural publications, and stealing the GPS computer systems which are a key part of modern farming,” he said.

“Farmers are having to regularly update security measures at considerable cost to keep high-tech criminals at bay.

“They are using Tracker devices on tractors, video and infra-red surveillance in their farm yards, and even DNA markers to protect sheep from rustlers.”

Tractors proved particularly vulnerable in the east and north east of England, where a spate of high-value thefts accounted for almost half of the total £5.4m cost across the UK.

Livestock rustling was also a huge problem, especially in Northern Ireland and the north east and south west of England. At a total cost to the UK of £2.9m, 70% came from these three regions alone.

NFU Mutual said social media was now the main resource for sharing information about crime in rural communities, and could be a valuable tool – not only for the prevention of rural crime but also catching criminals and returning stolen goods.

A study shows rural crime fell by 6% in Scotland last year but still cost the community £1.7 million.